Media Notes

In San Diego, Tim Sullivan writes sportscaster Dick Enberg "has a hankering to return to baseball broadcasting and his hometown Padres appear to be tuned to the same frequency." But while the "interest is mutual and the dialogue ongoing, the movement has been glacial." Enberg: "If they're interested, I'm interested." But he added, "I'm fully employed by CBS. At this point, it's pie in the sky." Sullivan writes Enberg's presence on a Padres telecast "would add cachet and credibility to a franchise that has been losing customers" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/18).

JUST MIGHT WORK: SPORTINGNEWS.com's Dan Levy wrote if Comcast SportsNet's move to enhance its local offerings is a "preemptive strike against ESPN, it just might work" in cities like Philadelphia and DC. But Levy added, "Let's just hope the new model isn't so successful that [it] gobbles up all the talent in town ... to the point where none of the existing local news outlets can compete with CSN or ESPN" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 11/17).

BRAND STUDY: AD AGE includes 2K Sports' NBA franchise among its list of "America's Hottest Brands." AD AGE's Rita Chang notes the franchise "has been the No. 1-rated NBA simulation game ... for eight years running" according to Gamerankings, as the franchise brings a "dose of uncanny realism to game play, where graphics and animation mimic in detail everything." As 2K Sports "taps into what makes NBA fans tick, it's also beating a different path to market to its youth audience, finding that it's more effective to provoke them than to sell to them" (AD AGE, 11/16 issue).

HE'S IN THE GAME: Single-A Northwest League Vancouver Canadians Assistant GM and broadcaster Rob Fai "has entered into a three-year agreement with EA Sports to be the public address voice" for the next three installments of its NHL videogame franchise (VANCOUVER SUN, 11/14).